Judge tosses $126K jury award to ex-principal

Daniel Tepfer

Updated 11:59 pm, Tuesday, August 20, 2013

BRIDGEPORT -- A state Superior Court judge Tuesday threw out a jury's $126,000 award to a former city elementary school principal who claimed he was fired after two former school employees made up allegations he was abusing students to cover up one of the employee's thefts from an after-school program.

Judge Mary Sommer ruled that the former principal, Andrew Cimmino, failed to prove that the two former school employees, Maria Marcoccia and Sally Lyddy, were not justified in reporting the allegations.

"Although the jury could have reasonably found ill will on the part of Marcoccia and Lyddy, it does not necessarily follow that they were the proximate cause of, or that they actively induced, the plaintiff's termination," the judge stated in her 12-page decision.

"My clients suffered for years unfairly and finally they have been vindicated," said Thomas Galvin Cotter, who represented Marcoccia and Lyddy.

Each investigation was ended after DCF found it could not substantiate the allegations, which had been brought by Lyddy and Marcoccia, head of the Lighthouse after-school program.

Details of the allegations were not immediately made public. However, a joint report by the state attorney general and state child advocate later revealed that Cimmino had been accused of taping a special-needs student to a chair and fondling the buttocks of another student.

Cimmino's firing drew angry protests from parents of students at the school, who showed up at Board of Education meetings with posters demanding his reinstatement.

Miller contended that Cimmino discovered Marcoccia was mismanaging the after-school program's funds, but was ignored when he brought it to the attention of the school board.

Marcoccia was later accused of stealing more than $15,000 from the program. She was also charged with first-degree larceny.

According to state Judicial Branch records, on Jan. 30, 2009, Marcoccia pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence and was sentenced to a suspended, five-year term, followed by five years of probation. She was also fined $5,000.